Missio Dei Suburbia

Driscoll on CNN

The Mark Driscoll national media tour continues - NYT Magazine, Nightline and now he's on CNN this weekend with comedian DL Hughley.

What I liked about this exchange is that Mark was able to take a dude who's going to approach a topic like sex flippantly and get his respect and open the door to a conversation about Jesus. If DL was living in Seattle, I'd lay money that he'd be sitting in one of the Mars Hill worship gatherings this weekend.

Why Don't Men Sing in Church?

Men will sing if you give them something to sing about... Quit blaming or making excuses for men not singing in the church - show them the God of the Scriptures and they'll sing...

Single Dudes and Church Planting

We've got a growing number of guys who are at UGA or just finished up who are seriously thinking about church planting. Most of them aren't married and would be the first to admit that there are no immediate prospects to change that in their world. Knowing how much I need my wife and love my boys, I get asked if a single man can and should plant a church. I'll let Scott Thomas, Director of Acts 29 (one of the groups we're partnered with along with the PCA), answer that question...

Parts 2 and 3...

Driscoll Interviews Piper

You absolutely need to take the time to watch this - may the Gospel have this kind of impact on me by the time I hit 60.

Bucket List for College

I find the concept of a bucket list to be rather overrated and chronologically snobbish in more than a few cases - defining the good life by opportunities not available to 99% of our fellow human beings throughout the course of history just seems...very Ivy League.

Anyways, I'll pass along another type of bucket list - not necessarily the five things you want to do before you die but these are definitely a few things that guys in college need to do in school to keep from dying.

From The Art of Manliness:

• Stick to a Schedule
• Exercise
• Eat Right
• Get Plenty of Sleep (but wake up at a reasonable time)
• Limit Video Game Time
• Create a budget
• Get involved in an organization or two
• Don't Get a Credit Card
• Don't Go Home Every Weekend
• Don't Just Hang Out With Your High School Friends
• Remember To Have Some Fun

More here.

The Suburbs - Silently Killing Your Manhood

From Cameron Schaefer at The Art of Manliness - Are The Suburbs Killing Your Manhood?

The danger [of] living in the suburbs is simply that there is no danger…it’s completely safe. Constant and complete control is a silent, but deadly killer.

HT: (Steve McCoy)

Christianity Today on Pornography and Sex Addiction

The most recent issue of Christianity Today has two article dealing with pornography and sex addiction:

Help for the Sexually Desperate

Porn's Stranglehold

They also profile the Samson Society which is doing some very good work in providing authentic relationships for men in a group environment.

I'd say the statistics in the article are conservative and you might quibble over some of the explanations and solutions, but it's becoming increasingly impossible to sweep this under the rug in churches. So how do we handle this without making assumptions about people and how do we discuss something personal in a public forum?

Hi, I'm a Man. I Think.

I've never met a men's ministry I really liked.

Some want me to hug other men.

Some want me to hurt other men...with the bearded ferocity of Chuck Norris...or the sadistic cunning of Jack Bauer.

Some want me to go out into the woods and run around in my William Wallace loincloth.

Some want me to act like manhood was discovered and lost in the Confederate army.

Some want me to believe that you can be a man and watch Project Runway (which has nothing to do with airplanes, apparently).

Some want me to never shave again (see the Confederate army group above).

Some want me to turn into one of those models in magazines like GQ...you know, the dudes that look like the girl you took to prom in 11th grade.

Some want me to act like everything is okay.

Some want me to act like nothing is okay.

Some want me to join a fraternity.

Some want me to join a society.

Some want me to join a band...of brothers.

Some want me to look in a mirror.

Some want me to make a promise.

We've got to do better than this...

Anthony Bradley - Bringing Some Old School Funk

I've really liked Anthony Bradley since I heard him speak at the Reform and Resurge Conference in Seattle in '06. I liked him even more after hanging out in the back of a hotel ballroom in Atlanta during the 2006 PCA General Assembly.

I've thought Anthony is an important voice in the continuing conversation called the Gospel - particularly because of his concern about what the church has done and is doing to men - the image in your head should be Jackie Sherrill castrating a bull.

If you don't think this is a serious issue in the church, check out what Anthony has to say about why more than a few guys in their 20s and 30s want to die - literally. And then read this as just a reminder that more than a few men have grown up completely smothered by their mothers.

Oh, and then for grins and giggles, read what Anthony posted over at the World Magazine blog about the role that growing up in a conservative suburban evangelical church may have played in leading Matthew Murray to go on a shooting spree in Colorado recently. I'm not going to lie to you - I spend alot of time with students at UGA who haven't gotten to where Murray was, but they're pissed off and confused because what they got growing up in church was something other than or in addition to Jesus and it's done nothing but jack up their world. And like Murray, more than a few guys that I know who don't fit the 'influential, extroverted, key guy' stereotype that many churches and ministries target live with a lot of  bitterness and flat-out anger that they don't know what to do with.  Massive problem.

And here's one last post from Anthony - his net worth is somewhere in the neighborhood of $-50,000. I post that only because I'm swimming in the same financially choppy water - $40,000 of student loans will do that to you. For me and Lindsey, that means we're starting our own Total Money Makeover thanks to Dave Ramsey - we'll keep you posted.

Sex Addicts R Us

Rachel Kramer Bussel is not a name that some of you are familiar with and if you are it probably means you've been spending time reading stuff not intended for the kids. She's a writer of erotic fiction who blogs occasionally on topics of sexuality over at The Huffington Post.

Earlier this week, she posted on the question of sex addiction and what she perceives to be a misuse of a category that might not exist in the first place. I'll go ahead and tell you that the article is frank in its presentation but the reality is that the issues brought up are very real and far more predominant in the American Southern Suburbs than we care to admit. Again, somewhere around 70% of all Christian men and over 40% of Christian women hit porn websites at least once a week. Online chatrooms and personal ads are usually bustling with activity and the rate of sexual activity among Christian students and singles is far more common than you think.

The issue isn't addiction, boys and girls. While addiction is an ugly thing - particularly when the addiction leads to the destruction of families, loss of jobs, maxing out of credit cards - only our small vision of who and what we were made for leads us to set aside God's design for sex and sexuality and call it normal.